How to use Oliver Reports

The goal of Oliver Reports is to help buyers and sellers (and owners) of real estate to have a better understanding of what is happening in the market. As such, we produce reports every quarter on several of the 34 cities and towns of Essex County as well as for Essex County overall and also for Massachusetts. We believe that statistics can be helpful to understanding a market, but they can also be dangerous if taken out of context. Read the comment on the Beverly condo market to appreciate the importance of having informed commentary in addition to the basic numbers.(Market reports include the option to download a pdf of the report.)

As my colleague Kathleen Murphys says: “Not everyone likes numbers and statistics but if you are thinking about buying or selling a home, information on local real estate sales and inventory is a great benefit.  A good Realtor will use this data to effectively develop a pricing and marketing strategy to support your goals.”

In addition to data about the market, Oliver Reports writes on real estate related topics such as mortgage rates, property taxes (we publish a map showing property tax rates every year) and flood insurance. A new feature will be devoted to topics such as staging and design,, as well as tips for both buyers and sellers.

We also publish New Listings and Open Houses each week for several cities and towns.

Beyond statistics, we also publish some lighter articles. We have published posts about Hugh Hefner, Elvis Presley, student housings that looks like a Ritz Carlton, the smallest castle in England, the largest palace in France – in other words, short articles (most posts can be ready in under a minute) that make interesting reading.

Oliver Reports is structured so that all the posts written in a 24 hour period go out in one email at 8 a.m. When you received the email, you can quickly scan to see if there is an article you are interested in. If so, click on it. If not, ignore the email.

If you have any interest in real estate (who doesn’t want to know what her home may be worth?) or any real estate related matters (an article is pending about shipping container homes –  made from the thousands of surplus containers that sit on docks around the world, these homes can be an eco-friendly alternative to traditional building materials: one can even be ordered on Amazon), please try Oliver Reports. You should find something you enjoy reading.

Finally, all the posts are available on the website www.OliverReports.com with the market reports collected under Market Reports at the top right.

Happy – and we hope, informed – reading.